Lessons from the month of June

New governmental appointments, rain-filled sunny afternoons and festivals filled with young people wearing very little – must be an Irish summer. And while we reapply our suncream, do join us in reflecting on the month that was and what we learned in the interim.

1. There’s no messing with Pat McDonagh.

Takeaway chain Supermac’s has won a David v Goliath court battle with McDonald’s over the use of the Big Mac trademark, paving the way for it to open outlets across Europe. In a decision made by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the ruling means that the US-founded fast food multinational has lost the right to use the moniker “Big Mac” in the EU concerning chicken burgers. It ends a nine-year legal fight by the Irish operator against its global rival and could see a similar result in a case pending in the UK, according to sources close to the brand.

The legal issues began in 2015, when McDonald’s argued that the Irish fast food chain’s name was too similar to its Big Mac burgers and would cause confusion among customers, winning a partial victory in 2016, when Supermac’s was granted the trademark for its restaurant name but not for many items of food and drink. The following year, Pat McDonagh’s company filed an application before the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to end the exclusive use of the term “Big Mac” by McDonald’s in the bloc.

He said: “This is a significant ruling that takes a commonsense approach to the use of trademarks by large multinationals. It represents a significant victory for small businesses throughout the world.”

2. Irish Athletics is making waves once more.

Ireland experienced astronomical levels of success at the European Championships in Rome early in the month, with medals coming from the 4x400m mixed relay team, 4x400m women’s relay team and the individual 400m final. The common denominator among these performances was 21-year-old Rhasidat Adeleke, who despite excelling throughout, experienced egregious race-related trolling following the win. The abuse was widely condemned by figures such as Taoiseach Simon Harris and Sonia O’Sullivan.

Speaking at the launch of Allianz’s “Stop The Drop” campaign, Olympic silver medalist and Irish distance runner Sonia O’Sullivan gave her thoughts on the abuse aimed at Adeleke, and how, as an athlete, making sure to block it out as much as possible is vital. “When you have any kind of negative comments online, whether it is racial abuse or anything like that, that can detract from what an athlete is trying to do – it’s a distraction that you need to be able to block out and put aside,” O’Sullivan said. “So I think for Rhasidat, I think she has moved on, and she’s realised that yeah, this is happening, but it’s not something I need to focus on. She is respected as a great athlete for Ireland, she is a central part of the Irish team, and she’s the heart and soul of Irish athletics right now.”

3. Chip-maker Nvidia’s shares fell this month, ending a brief stint as the world’s most valuable company.

Nvidia shed more than $500bn in market value this month after it briefly became the world’s most valuable company. Nvidia’s market value dropped to $2.91tn, down roughly $550bn from Thursday 20th’s peak. During that week, the company had leapfrogged Microsoft and Apple to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company, though it has since fallen back to third place.

The American multinational, whose gains alone had been responsible for roughly a third of the S&P 500’s increase in 2024, is now down about 16% from its intraday high of $140.76 hit on the 20th. According to Sky News, there are a number of factors at play for this, including profit-taking from so-called “momentum buyers,” and the fact that speculative money has been redeployed elsewhere, such as Meta and Apple.

4. Britvic in fizzy water.

The team at Britvic said this month that it would suspend its £75m share buyback in light of Danish brewer Carlsberg’s proposal to buy it. The British soft drink maker, which has previously rejected a £3.11 billion takeover proposal from Carlsberg, is putting a spanner in the works for the Danish company’s “beyond beer” strategy. In the meantime, PepsiCo also got involved, potentially killing the whole adventure by threatening the UK bottling rights for Pepsi, 7Up and Lipton’s Ice Tea from Britvic under a “change of control” clause. The US fizzy drinks titan had agreed to waive the clause if the deal happened, Carlsberg said through gritted teeth.

At present, Carlsberg is considering its options. Seemingly, Britvic is too, though it would want to hurry – as its shares have dropped in value since this news has been publicised.

5. We work opened in Central Bank.

The old Central Bank HQ in Dublin finally reopened its doors this month as the new flagship location for WeWork, coming six years after the flexible workspace giant agreed to occupy the building. The landmark Dame Street building, which has been empty since it was sold off in 2017, underwent a €100 million refurbishment which will see members of WeWork have access to 1,500 desks over eight floors that can be booked by the hour or day.

The flagship location features office suites and conference rooms for collaborative work, as well as bookable office space and phone booths for heads-down tasks. The company leased the 1970s building back in 2018 before it underwent redevelopment that includes a mix of offices, shops, restaurants and a two-story rooftop venue with 360-degree views of the city.

In summary:

If nothing else, Ireland has proved once again that if we know anything, it’s how to pick a  Finance Minister that will get people talking. At just 33, Jack Chambers was chosen as this year’s iteration, after Michael McGrath was nominated by the Government as Ireland’s next European Commissioner. (If, following Harris’ ascendency, Fine Gael is looking to create a group of super youths, we know nothing about it but are highly suspicious.) The Tánaiste, Mícheál Martin, described the incoming Budget-maker as a “very able, intelligent, highly effective politician,” while someone else on Twitter has described an encounter with him as: ‘No joke I once served Jack Chambers in the pub I use to work in and it took him absolutely ages to count out the exact change to pay with.’

In other disruptive Irish news, Aer Lingus is cancelling flights as the result of a work-to-rule strike for pay and we have to admit we’re not thrilled with the idea of our summer holiday dreams being dashed. Not least because we, like Rishi Sunak, are also living without a Sky TV subscription, but also because with the chaos Taylor Swift is about to bring to Dublin, we’re imagining that some sort of Swift-related armageddon is absolutely nigh.

However, we do have some things to look forward to: Irish Olympians are looking hotter than ever, the Euros are working out surprisingly well for anyone who is a fan of an own-goal, and Fair City, as the result of new RTÉ plans, is due to be produced off-site instead of Montrose. For anyone who’s watched an episode in recent years, this can only be a good thing.

In the meantime, may we look to the guidance of Natasha O’Brien – the woman cruelly attacked by soldier Cathal Crotty, who was handed a fully suspended sentence this month – and bask in her bravery, strength and fairness. She, this month, joined thousands of women to protest the controversial court case and reminded us time and again that we should be pushing for more. While it feels like, as Mary Lou McDonald said, we are “nowhere near where we need to be,” O’Brien’s tenacity and power have reinvigorated Ireland’s justice-centric spirit, and should give us all hope for the future forever more. Or, at least, for the next month.

See you next month!

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